The relationship of perceived stress and self -efficacy among correctional employees in close -security and medium -security -level institutions .

摘要

The occurrence of work-related stress in corrections facilities is increasingly important because of safety concerns, the authoritarian environment, understaffing, and the nature of the clientele served. Only a limited amount of empirical research has examined the relationship between different correctional security levels (e.g., closed versus medium security), perceived stress, self-efficacy, and gender among correctional employees. Self-efficacy, derived from the social learning theory, was used as the theoretical model in this study. The purpose was to examine the relationship of self-efficacy and perceived stress for differences between close security and medium security level institutions and between gender. A convenience sample of 118 correctional employees completed self-administered surveys. Perceived stress, as measured by the Perceived Stress Scale, and self-efficacy, as measured by the General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale, were used to examine the statistical predictive relationships. A multiple regression analysis and analysis of covariance were used to analyze the data. It was hypothesized that after controlling for length of time, there would be no significant difference between security levels, perceived stress, self-efficacy, and gender. Findings indicated that perceived stress and security levels significantly predicted self-efficacy, and self-efficacy negatively predicted perceived stress. Close security employees had higher perceived stress than did medium security employees. There were no significant gender differences. The implications for social change lie in the provision of stress management programming for correctional employees. Stress reduction would directly improve issues with safety, retention of personnel, absenteeism, and work satisfaction.